The Trading Path and North Carolina
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Journal of Backcountry Studies The Trading Path and North Carolina BY REBECCA TAFT FECHER Frontier is a subjective term, and one that has shifted and evolved over the years. North Carolina‟s piedmont and mountains originally were „frontier‟. The ever shifting frontier of North Carolina was explored cautiously, and with the help of the natives. In their explorations, and settlement of North Carolina, old native “trading paths” were utilized. Although some has been written about roads and paths into this area, most of the focus has been on the “Great Wagon Road”. A more fascinating look into the settlement of North Carolina‟s frontier is “the braided network of paths” and roads that make up what are referred to as the Great Trading Path.1 The label, in reality, referred to any number of different paths/roads within the state. This network allowed for the settlement of far flung areas in North Carolina, laying the ground work for where towns were formed, and providing a starting point for later roads throughout the state. Trade path routes were originally buffalo paths that then became Indian trails which were taken over by European explorers and settlers. Remnants of these old roads and trails have largely been forgotten as cars speed by, but can still be seen along many roads in this state. In many places, current roads overlay the centuries old paths. “The slender paths of aboriginal intercourse have been broadened and interwoven into the complex mazes of modern commercial lines”.2 Not only do these old roads represent our colonial beginnings, but they are a tangible part of our history that had a direct impact on where and how North Carolina was settled. For many North Carolinians very little is known about our early roads or their importance to the settlement of the state. The network of trading paths holds great significance to North Carolina and other states as well. Not only is this an archaeological treasure, but a historical, and public history treasure as well. One definition of public history, as defined by the National Public History Council is “a movement, methodology, and approach that promotes the collaborative study and practice of history; its practitioners embrace a mission to make their special insights accessible and useful to the public.”3 This field certainly would have an interest in and use for the trading paths of North Carolina. The tangled network of “roads” known as the Great Trading Path can confuse the modern researcher. The path most often referred to, and probably one of the earliest and most utilized, stretched from Petersburg, Virginia to near present day Charlotte, North Carolina.4 The Catawba Indians were originally placed somewhere near Charlotte, and the termination of this path seems to have been with them. Before reaching the Catawba Indians however, the path cut across many Piedmont counties leaving an indelible mark upon them.5 Other routes were available, and did wind their way into other portions of North Carolina and the back country. 1 Magnuson, Tom. Trade Path Association. Personal Interview September 2007. 2 Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1893 (Washington, DC: GPO and American Historical Association, 1894), 199-227. p. 20 3 “What is Public History?” National Council on Public History, http://ncph.org/Home/tabid/349/Default.aspx (accessed May 10, 2008). 4 North Carolina Museum of History Web Site. Available at http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org 5 Fowler, Tom. Carolina Journeys: Exploring The Trails of the Carolinas. Parkways Publishers Inc.; Boone, NC. 2004. p.12 © 2008 Rebecca Taft Fecher 2 Journal of Backcountry Studies Some of those “other routes” were settlement off shoots, meaning that they had been added on to the original Indian trails to allow for settlement, or to reach settlements not directly linked to the path. Routes, settlements, and tribes shifted, but not immeasurably so. Roads were, and still are fairly immovable. Proof of the indelible nature of roads can be seen in their use in describing plats of land. Looking through land grants the researcher invariably stumbles across mentions of the “Great Trading Path” time and again. Today‟s records utilize similar traits. A search of county GIS records, or Geographic Information Systems, reveals the utilization of rivers, streams, and roads to identify land boundaries.6 Though not the official boundary markers of today, this way of utilizing unmoving indentifying landmarks to plot land still exists. From above, old pathways can be viewed cutting across fields, streams and through forests. Where the terrain is steeper a topographical map will pick up the variations in elevation left by road cuts, although they are often hard to identify without some direction.7 While viewing aerial and topographical maps can be helpful, a study of modern and historic road maps can be a helpful tool in searching out the course of colonial transportation. Many of our modern roads follow the paths of colonial commerce and settlement, or closely mimic their movements across the state. The very nature of road placement and the resulting sprawl is a issue that is still very much alive to this day. Settlers arrived in colonial North Carolina differently than most of the other colonies of the day. Lacking a deep water port, and a connecting river system to the interior, North Carolina flourished only through over land settlement. People primarily arrived walking, on horseback, or by wagon down one of the many trade paths that provided entry into the North Carolina interior.8 The back country was appealing for a variety of reasons. Some sought a new life while others sought freedom from an intrusive government or impoverishment. To aid in North Carolina‟s attraction, law makers in 1667 passed measures that negated their debts, taxes, and did not allow for suits to be brought against new residents by out of state parties for five years. This was a huge draw, for many colonists carried heavy debts. While being a definite draw for a population seeking new beginnings, it must not be forgotten that the new land in the frontiers of North Carolina was cheap, and for the taking. North Carolina became a haven for debtors, rogues, and formerly indentured servants seeking a new and better life.9 For those “redemptioners”, or indentured servants who had redeemed themselves from their debt to their patrons, the draw was; land of their own and a fresh start where they were not deemed second class citizens.10 Interestingly, in the back country, there were blended communities. People of different ethnicity, class, and race were living together cohesively and productively by the late 1700‟s.11 This is an interesting fact that should be explored in greater depth due to its placement in an area later torn by racial divisions. Seekers of freedoms, land, and a new start crossed a broad range of ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds. These settlers flocked to the fertile and open spaces that were the North Carolina piedmont and mountains. The nature of blended communities, during this period, in the North Carolina back country is a topic that would be fascinating in and of its 6 http://www.alamance-nc.com The GIS web site for Alamance County, which proves helpful in identifying land parcel ownership. It can also be used to identify areas of interest through aerial and topographical maps. 7 Ibid 8 Wood, Peter H. Southern Colonies, http://www.answers.com 9 Elson, Henry William. History of the United States of America. The MacMillan Company; New York, 1904. pg‟s. 83-88 10 Henderson, Archibald. The Conquest of the Old Southwest. The Century Co.; New York, 1920. p.6 11 Arntsen, Barbara. Old roads a path to past. Goldsboro News-Argus.January 23rd, 2005. 3 Journal of Backcountry Studies self. From a public history stand point, race relations in the southern back country and through the contentious years of racial divides would be a fascinating topic to delve into in more detail. In the early days of American colonization the interior was a wild and scary place for settlers. Originally settlement was primarily along the coastline and its connecting waterways in large part due to a fear of leaving their known environment. Men, women, and children eventually quit hugging the coast, and began to trudge inward seeking new land and opportunities, setting the stage for American expansion westward. Migration and expansion followed the trading paths and trails that were left by the Native Americans. These Indian trails determined how and where settlers penetrated North Carolina, and were the “only road (s) worthy of mention in the Piedmont.”12 This was not impenetrable and untrod land. The trails and “roads” followed, had been used by various animals and people for hundreds if not thousands of years.13 The evolution of the settler‟s so called roads was from animal trail, to Indian path, to horse path, then to wagon trail, and in many cases to our modern roads. The early paths were “the trail of the American buffalo and the elk.14 Animals moved about from place to place along the path of least resistance. Native Americans followed these same paths, and added onto them, knowing they were the quickest, easiest, and best routes.15 While Native Americans generally walked one foot in front of the other in neat lines, the Buffalo would meander in large groups providing a large, cleared, rutted path.16 One foot in front of the other was not the way Europeans traveled. Natives could walk close to 25 miles a day however it was rare to see a European traveller on foot.